


Christmas after Gilead

by Artekate



Category: The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
Genre: Christmas, after the events of the book, very short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 07:52:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18245582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artekate/pseuds/Artekate
Summary: June/Offred is taken away to a safe-house. She is hiding from Gilead.It's Christmas,  and it's sad to see that Gilead even managed to take that away from the people, along with their freedom.





	Christmas after Gilead

I remember what it was like before; Decorations, people singing and dancing on the streets. They would laugh, kiss each other. Now, it is no longer possible. Gilead had taken away the Christmas spirit along with our freedom.  
Christmas was its old name. Now, in Gilead, it’s called The Ceremony of Birth. There were no longer people who sang or laughed. Instead, we would pray. Taking place in this ceremony was not optional. 

Christmas used to be my favourite holiday of the year, in the world before. Even though I wasn't religious, I still liked enjoying Christmas with my family, giving each other presents and decorating the tree and the house was fun. That's why every year I had had a hole in my chest that grows bigger as Christmas nears. Therefore, I am never quite myself around this time of the year.

This year, it is different. I am finally free. It's been months since that day I stepped into the darkness of the van. I chose to trust Nick, and so far I don't regret my decision. The men who came that day were actually from the network. They drove me to a safe-house where I’m still waiting for them to come back, and take me to Miami where the resistance was apparently stronger than we were told by Gilead. This gave me hope.

The family who is hosting me is very kind. Yet, they are also anxious that they may get caught by the Angels or draw the attention of the eyes. Therefore, I live in the attic, and I usually stay there. That way I don’t draw much attention to them. They had also given me a gun so that I could use it to defend myself if anyone comes to take me away. They are an old couple, and the wife, Miranda Sparrow, always brings my food upstairs for me to eat in the windowless room. I’m supposed to avoid being seen from the outside. I don’t really know where we are. I’m not supposed to know. They don’t want to take their chances in case I get caught.  
Ever since I came here, I feel like I am becoming a different person. I am more optimistic and less depressed. I enjoy life. Not to mention there is a TV set and lots of books in this house. In the world before, I didn’t read much, but now it’s different. Now I read every day. After being deprived of everything for so long, the smallest of things can make me happy. It feels as if I had died and had been reborn from my ashes. My way of speech, my way of thinking have all changed. I feel like a different person now.  
I often have nightmares that interrupt my sleep. Sometimes I wake up screaming in the middle of the night, covered with sweat. Those are the times when I can feel that my days as Offred were haunting me. During such nights, Mrs Sparrow comes into my room in to soothe me. She sometimes asks me what my life was like in the time before. Before Gilead. So I tell her about everything; Luke, my daughter, Moira and my mom. I also tell her about the gymnasium, Aunt Lydia and Aunt Elizabeth. The other day the husband, Mr Sparrow has given me a pen and a notebook. He said that it might be good if I wrote about my story, but I told him that I was not much of a writer. So he proposed that I should record myself instead. This sounded like a good idea to me. He gave me some old music tapes. I recorded myself with discretion leaving the majority of the recordings with music. My voice could be heard only after a while. I sometimes get the impression that I get too influenced by what I’m telling, and I become Offred again and lose sight of June. Now I’m June. I’m not the helpless Offred who doesn’t know what to do, who jumps from subject to subject.  
Today is exceptional since it is Christmas. Today I don’t have to stay in the attic. So I go downstairs to find that all the curtains are closed. Their house is simple yet comfortable. Mrs Sparrow is preparing the Christmas dinner in the kitchen. It smells delicious. There is no tree, but a Christmas song was playing on the cassette player. Mr Sparrow watches an old stereo tape on TV; a little girl learning how to walk. (Apparently their daughter was sent to the colonies three years ago and that was why they had joined the resistance.) I don’t disturb him; instead, I go to the kitchen to help Mrs Sparrow. She gives me a smile when I enter the room. I take a knife and start slicing some carrots. After a while, Mrs Sparrow tells me to set the table.  
When dinner is ready, we eat. They tell me stories about their daughter, and I tell them about mine. We also talk about how we used to spend time during Christmas and what our lives had been like before everything happened. I learn that they lived in Japan for a while. So I tell them about the Japanese tourists who were visiting the Republic of Gilead. It is great to be able to talk to people after so long.  
After dinner, we sing a little in hushed voices.  
At night I think about Luke, my daughter, Moira, my mom and even Nick. I fall asleep, wondering if I would ever meet them again.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for class more than a year ago. We were studying The Handmaid's Tale and it was around Christmas. So our teacher made us write a creative piece about it.  
> We were given random objects, actions and characters.  
>  It turned out better than I expected tbh.


End file.
